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FROM THE CABIN 


TO 


THE WHITE HOUSE. 




.<YISr ADDRESS 


AT THE OBSEQUIES OF THE LATE 


PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 


BY REV. J. TANSY, 


OF NEW HARMONY, IND. 


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EVANSVILLE : 

EVANSVILLE JOURNAL CO., STEAM PEINTERS AND BINDERS, 

1865 . 
















































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ADDRESS. 


We have met, to-day, in obedience to a call from our na-, , 
tional authorities, to pay a last tribute of respect to the j 
memory of our beloved Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln, , 
who was assassinated in Ford’s Theatre, in Washington 
City, April 18th, 1865. None of us, nor the nation, have 
ever experierced so sad a bereavement. Great men have 
fallen in our country before; twice death has taken from us 
our Chief M jgistrate; Washington, and the Fathers of 
our Country, have been removed by death; but none of 
these events carried so much sadness and gloom to the 
hearts and homes of the American people, as the death of 
Abraham Lincoln. And, on the present occasion, it is 
very fit, that we review the life and character of the 
illustrious personage, whose funeral ceremonies we h ive 
met to celebrate. And we notice— 

I. His Birth and Childhood.— He was born February 
«> 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky. His parents were i 
very poor, but respectable. He was started to an A, B, C, 
school at the age of seven. Ilis mother, like the mothers 
of Washington and Adams, was a religious woman ; and 
early instilled into the mind' and heart of her child, i 











































7 

I found there that to demonstrate means 1 to show or prove 
to be certain beyond a doubt.’ This did not satisfy me. 
I threw aside my law books until I could learn to demon¬ 
strate. I took up Euclid and studied until I could solve 
most of the problems in five books at sight! Then I 
thought I could demonstrate, and returned to my law.” 

This is a feat that very few men have performed. Some 
of you have gone through a collegiate course. Could your 
Professors of Mathematics do it? They could not. Very 
few men have been endowed with such powers of concen¬ 
tration. His powers of memory were as extraordinary as 
his powers of concentration. When but eleven years old 
he committed to memory Esop’s Fables. And, during his 
boyhood, the pioneer preachers found their way into the 
wilderness as heralds of civilization. They visited the part 
of the country where the cabin of the elder Mr. Lincoln 
was situate. On the Monday morning following their 
visits, young Lincoln would mount a stump or log, and 
regale his school-fellows with the sermon of the previous 
day! Very few men have been able to do this. It is said 
of the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, that when a boy, he was 
in the habit of doing the same thing. Others, by careful 
cultivation of memory, have, in mature manhood, been able 
to do it; but I do not now know of any other instance on re¬ 
cord, of the same kind in a boy! These are some of the 
incidents of the boyhood of this remarkable man. 

II. His Character —He was Honest .—This is con¬ 
ceded by all men of all parties. I will give here an inci¬ 
dent or tw T o of his boyhood, similar to the one told' of ’ 
| Washington and his hatchet. His schoolmaster had a 
buck’s horn nailed to the side of his house. Young 











8 

Lincoln in passing saw it, and thought that it would be a 
nice place to perform a gymnastic feat. And, accordingly, he 
tried it. In the performance of the feat, he unfortunately 
broke the buckshorn from its fastenings. The master 
finding it out, a*sked who was the author of the mischief* 
Young Lincoln replied quickly and frankly : 

“ I did it sir. I did it swinging upon it. I did not 
know that it would break, or I would not have done it.” 

Here was an exhibition of that love of truth and honesty, 
that shone so brightly in every act of his after life. You 
have all heard of the borrowed book : how it got wet and 
damaged by the storm, and how he cut corn tops three 
day’s to pay for it! 

“ Honest Abe,” was the appellation he received when a 
boy, and throughout an eventful life, he retained the char¬ 
acter. The temptations and cheateries of the law could 
not bend him. The excitements and corruptions of politics 
could not swerve him. He lived and died, that noblest 
work of God, “ an honest man.” 

He was Kind .—He possessed almost a womanly tender¬ 
ness. His heart never closed against suffering and distress. 
He was ever ready to respond to calls for the wants and 
woes of others, and he responded not in words of 
sympathy alone, but acts and means relieved their 
necesities. 

An incident is related of him when a young man, that 
illustrates the kindness of his heart. He had been invited 
to a house-raising about fourteen miles from home. On 
his return, he found a man lying in the ditch drunk. The 
weather was cold, and death would have ended that drunk¬ 
ard’s career, in the ditch, ere midnight, had he not been 







































10 

with the same manly firmness and integrity that he did the 
oars of his employer’s flat-boat, on the waters of the 
Mississippi. No single act of fraud, injustice, violence, or 
crime, has ever been attributed to him. He has had his 
calumniators. But they were either traitors themselves, or 
in sympathy with, or in the employment of, traitors—men 
who know not how to admire a noble man, or the value of 
a virtuous act. And when such men are forgotten, or 
branded as Arnold and Cain, or only live in memory, exe¬ 
crable, he will live on, his character growing brighter and 
brighter. Or when a black monument, representing Shame 
exulting over Virtue, may be erected to commemorate their 
deeds, his sun will not have reached its zenith ! His fame 
lives, grounded on truth, virtue, and honor. His is a living 
character. There are some characters that die , but Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln’s is one that lives. His virtues are deathless ; 
his laurels fadeless ; his is an undying fame. 

III. His Connection with the Great Events trans¬ 
piring around us.—Ever since man, in the Garden of 
Eden, wrenched the reigns of government from tha hands 
of Jehovah, and attempted to govern himself, the solution 
of the problem of self-government has occupied the 
greatest minds of earth. Tyrants have said, u man cannot 
govern himself.” Self-conceited aristocrats have pro¬ 
claimed, “ he is incapableand even republicans have 
doubted his capacity. But our Fathers thought different¬ 
ly, and the events of the past four years show their reason¬ 
ing correct. The problem has been demonstrated beyond 
a doubt. Man is capable of self-government. Mr. Lin¬ 
coln’s connection with the events that demonstrated the 
problem, alone, would give him prominence in the history 











11 

of the times. But his was not a spectator’s part. He was, 
rather, the hero of the greatest drama of history. Each 
scene, each event, in the demonstration of the grand con¬ 
test bore the impress of his genius and power. 

When inaugurated, States were seceding, rebels were 
proud, defiant and confident; the treasury empty, the fleet 
scattered to the four points of the compass; the army dis¬ 
organized, the arsenals empty or in the hands of traitors; 
the nation, in wonder and fear, looked on. Monarchists of 
the Old World laughed a demoniac laugh, and said; “ See, 
their fabric cf Republicanism is tumbling to the ground !” 
The boldest were faint-hearted and doubting. The darkest 
hour that has lowered over our destiny since the days of 
“’76” hung over, the morning of March 4, 1861. A 
general gloom, like a funeral pall, shrouded our destiny, 
and filled all hearts with fear. Did I say all hearts ? He 
alone was calm —He seemed to feel no fear, to know no 
doubt. Taking upon himself the solemn obligations to 
discharge faithfully the duties of his office, and calling 
God to witness, in His strength, he set himself energetically 
to work to save his country from ruin. Calmly, and dis¬ 
passionately, he surveyed the field; sternly, and unflinch¬ 
ing he looked danger in the face, and skillfully made his 
preparations to meet it. He surrounded himself with able 
counsellors; the best talent and wisdom of the land filled 
places of trust in the Cabinet and camp. But the nation 
looked to him —depended upon him. Slavery had thrown 
down the gauntlet to Liberty. He took it up. The con¬ 
test was begun. The world, astonished at the desperation 
of the rencounter, stood still and looked on. Tyrants and 
aristocrats prayed for defeat; liberals, everywhere.hoped, 











12 


yet feared, for success. But with the battle cry of Freedom 
on his lips, and his great soul animated with the greatness 
of the stake, he fought the “ good fight.” After four 
years of superhuman toil, and labor, of prayer, anxiety 
and anguish, he won the victory, reached the goal, was, 
crowned with fadeless laurels to— die. 

The abolition of slavery , is another of the mighty events 
of the times with which he was intimately connected. 
An antagonism to human slavery was instilled into his soul 
when but a boy by his parents. “ It grew with growth, 
and strengthened with his strength,” and matured with his 
maturity, and eventually, he sealed with his blood his de¬ 
votion to human liberty, and his hatred to slavery. Some 
of you will remember his remarkable words, in one of his 
speeches, when of the slave power, as early as 1859, he 
said : 

u Broken by it, I too, may be; bow to it, I never will. 
The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not | 
to deter us from the support of a cause which I deem just; j 
it shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me 
expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its 
Almighty architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of 
my country, deserted by all the world besides, and I standing 
up boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her victorious 
oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, 
before High Heaven, and in the face of the world, I swear 
eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of 
my life, my liberty, my love.” 

When Mr. Lincoln came into office, he found four 
millions of human beings in bondage. Rebels and traitors 











13 

1 

had gone to war to rivet more firmly the manacles upon 
the slave. He said : 

“ We will save the Union with slavery if we can• • if we 
cannot, without it. The Union must be saved at all 
hazards.” 

In the course of the demonstration of the problem of 
self-government, it became evident th it slavery must be 
abolished. With characteristic firmness an l fearlessness, 
he took hold of their fetters and hurst them asunder, and 
hade the slave go free. The carpings of narrow minded, 
prejudiced persons, the love of friends, the fear of foes, 
could not deter him. He found slavery in the way to 
peace and safety, and it must be removed. And, remove it 
he did. And, we may now sing without a lie on our lips : 

“ The Star spangled banner, 0 long may it wave, 

O’er the land of the free , and the home of the brave." 

Like Napoleon, he, in a measure, gave the impress of 
his own character to the times. And, while Christianity 
and philanthropy have places in the history of the world, 
and while virtue is cherished and loved by men and angels, 
and while noble deeds are honored in heaven and in earth, 
his name and deeds will not he forgotten. Cincinnatus, at 
the call of his countrymen, twice left his plough and saved 
Rome from destruction. Horatio, another noble Roman, 
with two others, defended the narrow pass against the 
i Tuscan band, until the bridge over the Tiber could be 
broken down. The bridge went down, cutting of all hope 
of escape, but Rome was saved ! Leonidas, with his three 
hundred Sp/rtans, blocked the pass of Thermopylae against 
the minions of Persia until Greece could organize! These 
are some of the world’s roll of honor. Another and 















14 


brighter name has been added to the list. Achilles and 
Hercules live in fabled history and song— Lincoln on the 
pages of the grandest history of time. 

We now compare his character with other great 
men of the world. —Cincinnatus, a noble Roman, we have 
said, twice left hn quiet home and domestic peace to save 
his country from ruin. But Cincinnatus was born of 
Patrician parents, and had all the advantages that wealth 
i and the best masters could afford. ‘'Julius Caesar had ac¬ 
quired a world-wide reputation as General of the Roman 
armies of the West. But power tempted him to the over¬ 
throw of his country’s government. Peter the Great, of 
Russia, is, perhaps, the brightest name on the kingly roll; 
but he was a tyrant. 

Among all the lustrous names that shine in the history 
of the past, none have reached the highest station, possible 
for man to reach, with virtue’s robes about them so pure 
and spotless, as Abraham Lincoln. Cromwell, unaided, 
by dint of energy, came up from the lowest walks of life, 
to absolute power and rule in England. But Power, made 
him drunk. He took upon himself the title of Dictator, 
became a bigot, ruled with the rod of a despot, flung to 
the winds his fame, and infamy has set her mark on him 
for all time to come. And, whatever may be said of the 
virtues of Napoleon—and they are many—history has 
written him Egotist and Tyrant. But we see Abraham 
Lincoln, born in a hovel where poverty reigned supreme, 
his hands hardened to toil, and his visage bronzed by the 
sun, struggling with more than herculean energy and 
power against the difficulties that environed him ; and 
rising, unaided, by his own virtues, and standing without 













15 

giddiness, pride or hauteur, upon dazzling heights where 
other men have only dared to look, unscathed by any vice. 
As humble and merciful in the hour of triumph and 
greatest glory, as he was firm and unyielding in adversity 
and storm. Thank God for giving us Abraham Lincoln 
in the hour of our national peril and calamity ! And, 
thank God ! we can point to him, as pure and spotless in 
life and character ! Thank God, he is ours.. His name, 
his character, his virtues, his fame, all ours—ours to 
cherish, to emulate, to teach our children to teach their 
children to cherish and emulate. 

Washington was great, noble, GRAND in his character. 
A halo no less lustrous clusters round the name of Lincoln. 
England had her Alfred the Great, and Prince of Orange; 
Prussia, her Frederick the Great; France, her Charlemagne 
and Napoleon ; Spain, her Charles the Fifth, and Russia, 
her Peter the Great; but high over all these masters and 
conquerors of the Old World, stands in simple, yet majes¬ 
tic grandeur, the name of our Lincoln, 

Agair, thank God ! for giving us Abraham Lincoln in 
the hour of the nation’s peril and calamity; and, thank 
God, we can point to him as pure and spotless ! 

We close by a few 

General Remarks. —-But now he has gone from us. 
Deeds, memory and hope are all that remain; all else has fled. 

! Just as he had reached the goal for which he had so long 
toiled and prayed, he was stricken down by the assassin. 
Like Moses, he was permitted to lead his people to the 
borders of the expected inheritance; like him, he was per¬ 
mitted to look from heights on the promised rest, and 
then— die. He was murdered upon the execution of an act 











16 


of unexampled clemency, which dismissed the armed lead¬ 
ers of the rebellion to their homes, and showed the politi¬ 
cal conspirators of it that no vengeance from us would 
follow their crimes, or prevent their return to peace and 
equal rights in the country they had deluged in blood. 

In the excitement of the terrible provocations his 
leniency to the South was esteemed by his friends his chief 
fault. So good, and kind, and tender, and merciful an in¬ 
tercessor and judge has the Southern rebellion murdered 
in the very act of forgiveness ! While the father opened 
his arms to receive back the Southern Prodigal, he rushed 
upon him, and stabbed him, as if to drive all mercy from 
the hearts of men, and leave, henceforth, stern justice, 
and righteous vengeance, to unmitigated sway. 

He has gone from us. From the heights of glory he had 
climbed so high—he has faded into Heaven. A nation 
follows his bier as chief mourner, for a loss that is irre¬ 
parable. Tread lightly, as his ashes go to rest. “ Earth 
to earth, ashes to ashes , dust to dust,” fall heavily on the 
ears of a stricken and weeping people, as his body is con¬ 
signed to the grave, there to rest until the general resur¬ 
rection of the dead at the last day. Speak softly. All 
hearts are wrung with grief. Weep on, 0, Sons and 
Daughters of Columbia, tears are fit tributes to the memory 
of him whom we so loved. Weep on, but weep not in utter 
abandonment. Earth has lost her noblest benefactor, but 
the Saviour, the pure and redeemed in heaven, have re¬ 
ceived him. Let us weep, but not hopelessly. You have 
heard of a 

-“Sun bright clime, 

Where the eje is fire, and the heart isHarne.” 



























17 




he awaits us there—in heaven—where no assassin can ever 
enter. For awhile we bid him adieu, with hope shining, 
ever shining, upon the dark portals of his tomb. Then, 
for awhile, farewell to the Noble, the Sage, the Patriot, 
the Brave. Thou art gone— 

“ Gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, 

Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb, 

The Saviour has passed through its portals before thee, 

And the lamp of his love, is thy guide through its gloom.” 

He has fallen, u a great and good man, a martyr to his 
country ; but not till he had lived through all its years of 
danger and terrible trial and despondency, to see its 1 
triumph assured, and the bright dawn of peace at home j 
and the establishment of his country’s dignity and power 
abroad. He was identified with all its danger and 
suffering. In its darkest hours he never despaired for his j 
country, or abated a particle of its sovereignty or dignity. 
In the gloom of military failure he decreed that the contest 
should, henceforth, be the restoration of the nation upon 
the foundation of justice to all men. He struck a blow at 
the root of the most powerful wrong that ever ruled a people. 
Against all the influence of political weakness, border I 
compromises, and of the depressions by the fortunes of [ 
war, and the appalling magnitude of the contest, he 
steadily refused to modify, or withdraw that decree of 
liberty, or compromise his faith given to that liberated 
people. 

He has fallen ; but in a blaze of glory. 

* * “ the old eagle to die at the sun! 

Lies he stiff with spread wings at the goal he had won! 

Are there spirits more blest that the pl&rU of Even, 

Who mount to their zenith, then melt into Heaven— 




































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